These States Suspend Disabled Kids the Most

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First grade was the year “all hell broke loose” for Carter, a South Carolina teenager with multiple disabilities whose school career was marked by suspensions of every kind. In-school. Out-of-school. Forced to sit alone at lunch. Kicked off the school bus. 

In a powerful story and state-by-state data analysis this week, my colleague Amanda Geduld offers disturbing new insight into the degree to which children with disabilities are disproportionately subjected to school suspensions, sometimes for minor infractions. Disciplinary actions against children with disabilities aren’t just a matter of their behaviors, Amanda found. They’re also greatly affected by where the student lives. 

Amanda digs into the repeated school suspensions of Carter, which his mom said could have been avoided had the local schools provided adequate special education services that federal law demands. His case highlights a trend: No state suspends children with disabilities more often than South Carolina. 

“It’s just reflective of the state of public education of South Carolina as a whole,” said Macaulay Morrison, the assistant director of a health and legal advocacy clinic at the University of South Carolina Law School. “Sometimes it’s easier for schools to exclude these students than it is for them to figure out how to support them.”

Read Amanda’s story here, and see how the numbers stack up in your state. 

In the News

New on the First Amendment battlefield: A slim majority of American adults support teacher-led Christian prayers in public schools, according to a new Pew Research Center report released just days after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott authorized Bible readings in schools and required Ten Commandments displays in classrooms. The Texas laws are part of a broader conservative push to bolster religion in schools — with hopes of ultimately finding favor on the Supreme Court. On the same day Texas required the display of the Ten Commandments in schools, a federal appeals court struck down a similar law in Louisiana. | The 74

Developments on Trump’s immigration crackdown: Federal immigration agents arrested more than 30 people after conducting a raid at a south Alabama high school construction site. Officials said the operation “sends a strong message to those who exploit illegal labor for profit.” | AL.com

• In Florida, agents visited the offices of a state-funded children’s center in a search for their undocumented parents. | Miami Herald
• Detroit teenager Maykol Bogoya-Duarte has been deported to his home country of Colombia after he was detained by immigration officials during a routine traffic stop while driving to a school field trip. | Chalkbeat
• In New York, residents confronted masked immigration agents lingering hundreds of feet from an elementary school. Agents got into a car crash as they attempted to flee. | The Intercept
• The State Department will screen the social media profiles of student visa applicants for “any indications of hostility” toward the U.S. | Politico
• A former federal immigration officer in North Carolina was arrested on allegations he possessed images of child sexual abuse. | WCNC
• Student absences have surged by 22% this year in California’s Central Valley amid heightened immigration enforcement activity in the agricultural region, a new study found. | Stanford University

The Loudoun County, Virginia, school district announced plans to install on its campuses artificial intelligence-powered surveillance cameras designed to identify weapons, fights and medical emergencies. | The Washington Post

A critic’s take on Pride Month: Libraries have become “centers for queer resistance” in the fight against censorship. A new investigation takes aim at LGBTQ+-affirming books which, according to the author, glamorize “medicalized sex changes as brave and heroic.” | RealClearInvestigations

• The Trump administration has gutted a specialized suicide prevention line for LGBTQ+ youth, who are far more likely than their straight peers to die by suicide. | NPR
• In a major civil rights setback, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. | The Associated Press
• The Education Department announced the California Interscholastic Federation violated the civil rights of female students by allowing transgender athletes to compete on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. | Los Angeles Times

The Senate education committee voted Thursday to approve Trump nominees Penny Schwinn as the Education Department’s second in command and Kimberly Richey to lead the agency’s civil rights office. Both were advanced to the full Senate on 12-11 votes along party lines. | The 74

A federal judge has awarded more than $900,000 to a former Pennsylvania middle school teacher who was fired for attending the “Stop the Steal” insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. | LehighValleyNews

The Senate parliamentarian will allow a provision to ban state regulation of artificial intelligence for a decade, including rules around its use in schools, to remain in President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending bill. | The Hill

A bulletin from the National Terrorism Advisory System has warned of a “heightened threat environment” for cyberattacks after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites. In an unrelated cybersecurity advisory last year, the federal government cited the potential threat of Iran-based hackers carrying out cyberattacks on U.S. “education, finance, healthcare and defense sectors.” | CBS News, CISA

A massive settlement, behind closed doors: The school board in Los Angeles has quietly agreed to issue $500 million in bonds to settle hundreds of decades-old sexual abuse cases involving former students. | EdSource

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Emotional Support

Look. At. This. Chunk. 

No really, this dog’s name is Chunk! This pup is 74 editor Kathy Moore’s 11-week-old Corgi pup nephew, and we get it. He’s unbearably cute. Try not to make a scene.

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